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My mouth drops open as I gawk down at the screaming babies and back to his gushing chest. Footsteps thump behind me, and just as I think Dessin is about to collapse, he thrusts his sword to my right, grazing my hip and cracking into bone behind me. I spin around to see a soldier stumble back until he’s on the ground, bleeding out onto the sand.
“Dessin,” I mutter, shock blazing like a wildfire through my soul.How did this—how could this happen?
And that’s when I hear a man’s retching howls louder than I’ve ever experienced. Nothing in the asylum could ever compare to this.
I spin around to see Niles, throwing himself between the stakes, fire shredding his skin in a wicked storm around him. His clothes light up, and he fumbles in agony toward DaiSzek’s cage. With a hard jab, he works the brass lock, letting out a bone-shattering scream. The flames devour his arms and leg. DaiSzek jerks around in his cage, waiting to be set free, waiting for his apocalypse.
And the screaming doesn’t stop. Not as Niles throws the lock to the sand, not as DaiSzek plows through the opening door, and not even while Niles rolls to extinguish the fire in the wet sand.
DaiSzek, like a murderous giant, jumps over the burning stakes, landing in the sand, rumbling the earth around us.
And above the clashing weapons of the grunting men, he releases the roar of a fire-breathing dragon. The horn of death. The call of a god. His gallop to the enemy is quick, long strides to devour their body parts like his own personal feast.
Something tears my focus away, gripping my hands that are supporting the babies.
I look up to see Ruth kneeling between Dessin and me. “Give them to me,” she rasps, eyes filled with tears drizzling down her cheeks. “I’ve got them, Skylenna.”
I swallow, nodding my head as she takes the babies away. Somewhere safe.
Destruction ripples around me as I look back at Dessin, who is struggling to keep himself up. Face drained of his tan complexion, and blood running over his lips and down his chin. He gulps, eyes still fixated on me.
“Skylenna,” he chokes.
And suddenly, DaiSzek’s stampede is drowned out. The slaughter is muted. I hold my hands out to him, remembering how I tore them away when Kane tried to apologize to me.
“I’m here,” I gasp, letting him fall into my arms.
Oh my god.I grunt as I cushion his full weight, watching more blood spill from the wound in his chest. His head rests in my lap as he struggles to breathe. All I can do is reach my hands to the spurting blood and cover the open hole with trembling pressure.
But I realize my lap is wet too. The puncture in his back pours over my legs. And I can’t stop it from happening. I can’t contain it.
“What do I do?” I shriek at anyone who will listen. “Dessin, what should I do?!”
Warrose kneels beside his brother, reaching for Dessin’s hand.
“Can we fix this?” he asks, voice heavy and strained.
Dessin just stares at him, making harsh gurgling sounds.
Warrose nods with a clenched jaw and misty eyes. “I see.”
What?“No!” I press down on his chest harder. “Someone help us!” I bellow.
From what I can tell, the fighting has stopped. DaiSzek did exactly what Dessin said he would do. He killed them all.
Aurick is standing over us now, inspecting the situation with alarm tightening his expression. “Where is he hurt?”
“He w-was stabbed th-through the chest!” My hands tremble violently over Dessin, wincing at the blood pooling up to my wrists.
Aurick’s jaw drops, and he takes a step back.
“What’re you doing?!” I pant, a lump forming in my throat to the point of pain. “Help him! Save him!”
But Aurick’s throat bobs, and his eyes won’t connect with mine.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Save him, you bastard! You owe him that much.” My voice is as small and helpless as a child’s cry.
Warrose puts a hand on my shoulder. “He doesn’t have much time left, Sky—”
